Chapter 116: Emeralds

"Sonny! Sonic!" Miles said approaching the two who were standing before a black and purple portal that opened in the white space between Central City which was fully colored and the colorless Seaside Hill area. Tails flew next to him and like Sonic he had changed as well.

He was now a little taller with blue eyes instead of black and his tails had grown longer too.

"Let me guess," Sonny said with his arms crossed. "Tails went through a growth-spurt."

"Well, yeah, but that's not why we came here," Tails said, sounding a little more mature than before but still child-like. "Miles and I have been putting more pieces together about what's going on, and it's not good."

"Then spill it already," Sonic said.

Before Tails answered him, another black and purple vortex appeared and the shadowy monster flew right over them before vanishing in another vortex.

"That thing that brought you and your friends here is ripping holes in the space-time continuum causing all the places from our past to become lifeless," Tails said.

"But with the combined speed of both Sonny and Sonic, life has been restored to the areas we've visited," Miles added.

"Then we got to run like there's no tomorrow," Sonic said and took off towards Seaside Hill.

But before Sonny could follow him, Miles held him back.

"Did you find any more of our friends?" Miles asked.

"Yeah, I found Crème in Station Square then Rouge and Shawn in Central City," Sonny answered.

"Were they all right?"

"Crème was fine, Rouge was okay, but Shawn acted really weird so I had to defeat him in a one-on-one battle."

"Why did you do that?"

"He behaved like you did back on Asteroid Coaster when Eggman zapped you with that mine-control device thingy."

Miles' eyebrows furrowed. "Maybe Eggman's somehow connected with all of this."

"Possibly."

###

Once Sonny managed to catch up to Sonic, they traversed the majority of Seaside Hill until they came across a frozen statue of Espen.

"Another friend of yours?" Sonic said as Espen's hair-color turned to its normal purple hue along with his matching clothes.

Sonny nodded as Espen blinked briefly and looked quizzically at Sonic.

"Is that a…hedgehog?" Espen wondered.

"You got it!" Sonic said giving Espen a thumbs-up.

In response, Espen raised an eyebrow and looked at Sonny. "Where are we?"

"We're at the Seaside Hill of Sonic's Mobius," Sonny said.

"Oh," Espen responded casually. "Did that shadow-thing bring us here?"

"Pretty much."

"Have you found the others?"

"Some."

"Then I take it you haven't found Charles or Victor yet."

"No."

"Very well, I shall go look for them." Espen turned away from Sonny and Sonic and then said, "You'd best be on your guard, Sonny. That shadow-thing could strike again at any moment."

"Don't worry, Espen, I'll be fine as long as Sonic's with me," Sonny replied as Espen walked further down the beach of Seaside Hill.

"Hey, I said nothing about babysitting you," Sonic said looking up at Sonny dubiously.

"By the way, Sonic," Espen shouted getting Sonic's attention. "Do you know of a guy called Espio?"

"He's one of the Chaotix Detectives," Sonic responded. "You won't have trouble finding him unless he's invisible."

"What does he look like?" Espen asked.

"A purple chameleon."

Once again, Espen raised an eyebrow and then he disappeared from sight.

"Whoa, I guess Espio's not the only one who can turn invisible now," Sonic mused. "In my world, humans normally don't have superpowers."

###

"You guys are doing great so far!" Tails remarked once he and Miles had regrouped with Sonny and Sonic after they restored Seaside Hill. "A lot of time-periods we've been passing have been restored back to life!"

"And I've saved many of our friends along the way," Sonny added.

"True, though I wish they'd stick with me and Tails instead of going off and looking for everyone else in these places that aren't the same ones we know," Miles said wearily.

"They'll be fine, Miles," Sonny said assuredly. "Like me, they've developed abilities similar to the ones they had before they came here."

"That does seem odd given our current circumstances, but I think I have an idea to the reason behind it." Then before he could answer, Miles witnessed another vortex open and the shadowy creature appeared.

"Brace yourselves!" Sonic said as he, Sonny, Miles, and Tails ducked their heads when the creature flew over them.

It went toward another city, but this one lay in ruins with a floating Chaos Emerald. The creature eyed the Emerald and flew towards it but was met by an energy blast that came directly from the Emerald. In turn, the creature shrieked as if in pain and disappeared into a nearby vortex.

"Wow, that thing really didn't seem to like the Chaos Emerald," Tails said.

"We have Chaos Emeralds in our world, and they've always helped us in dire situations despite others trying to use them for their own gain," Miles noted.

"That's the case with our Emeralds, too," Tails said. "Maybe if we collect all seven, that'll give us enough power to drive the shadow monster away."

"Sounds like a fun adventure to me," Sonic said and eyed Sonny. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Heck yeah!" Sonny said and followed Sonic toward the ruined city.

"We'll head back to the places we've been to find any Chaos Emeralds that might be hidden," Tails said as he and Miles turned away from Sonny and Sonic. "If you find any up ahead, let us know!"

###

"Ugh, my head hurts," Blake said once she was no longer a statue.

She and Sonny was standing on a burning highway in the ruined city which Sonny realized was the future city he Miles and Chuck got sent to during their trip to Soleanna a few years back.

"It's okay, Blake," Sonny said comfortingly. "You're in safe hands."

"Sonny," Blake said as she blinked upon noticing Sonic standing beside him. "What's that?"

"What? You've never seen a hedgehog before," Sonic said and sighed mockingly. "You know, Sonny, having to explain me to your friends is getting pretty boring."

"Well, I can't help it, Sonic," Sonny said wearily. "None of them are used to seeing talking blue hedgehogs that wear sneakers."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm not used to fighting alongside humans that can run almost as fast as me," Sonic retorted and leaped up to grab the Silver Chaos Emerald that was floating over Blake's head. "One down, six more to go."

"What's going on, Sonny?" Blake asked as Sonic headed toward the white space that lay beyond the future city. "Where did that blue hedgehog come from and how did I get to this city?"

"I'd love to answer your questions, Blake, but me and Sonic have a timeline to save," Sonny said and ran quickly to catch up to Sonic.

To be continued…